On which I write about the books I read, science, science fiction, fantasy, and anything else that I want to. Currently trying to read and comment upon every novel that has won the Hugo and International Fantasy awards.

Saturday, July 3, 1999

Comments: In 1999, after a one year hiatus, the Best Horror or Dark Fantasy category returned for one final hurrah before being discontinued permanently. This award, which was won in this year by Stephen King for only the second time overall, has always struck me as being somewhat confused and redundant. although I am only a casual horror fan, I can definitely see a need for a dedicated Best Horror Novel category as a large proportions of horror novels don't really fit under either the science fiction or fantasy designations. If Locus wants to recognize works from the horror genre, a dedicated category would seem like the best option.

On the other hand, the "dark fantasy" half of the category is, in my view, more problematic. Although the lines between genres are often blurred and indistinct, the distinction between "fantasy" and "dark fantasy" is not so much indistinct as nonexistent. The is simply so much overlap between these two that trying the to determine which category a particular book fits into is something of a fool's errand. This dichotomy between the two halves of the category means that although it was probably for the best that this is the last year it was awarded, its loss was also not an entirely happy event.

4. The Boss in the Wall, A Treatise on the House Devil by Avram Davidson and Grania Davis

5. The Summer Isles by Ian R. MacLeod
6. Aurora in Four Voices by Catherine Asaro
7. Get Me to the Church on Time by Terry Bisson
8. A Second Chance at Eden by Peter F. Hamilton
9. A Princess of Helium by R. Garcia y Robertson
10. (tie) The Colonel in Autumn by Robert Silverberg
(tie) Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang
12. Ancestral Voices by Gardner Dozois and Michael Swanwick
13. Reading the Bones by Sheila Finch
14. Mother Death by Robert Reed
15. Sea Change, with Monsters by Paul J. McAuley
16. Jumping Off the Planet by David Gerrold
17. Coolhunting by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
18. The Days of Solomon Gursky by Ian McDonald
19. The Bradshaw by Judith Moffett
20. Grist by Tony Daniel
21. The Cuckoo's Boys by Robert Reed

Other Nominees:
3. All the Birds of Hell by Tanith Lee
4. Echea by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
5. Lovestory by James Patrick Kelly
6. Waiting for the End by Robert Silverberg
7. Divided by Infinity by Robert Charles Wilson
8. Steamship Soldier on the Information Front by Nancy Kress
9. A Dance to Strange Musics by Gregory Benford
10. Starfall by R. Garcia y Robertson
11. Lost Girls by Jane Yolen
12. Approaching Perimelasma by Geoffrey A. Landis
13. Zwarte Piet's Tale by Allen M. Steele
14. The Barrier by Stephen Baxter
15. Rules of Engagement by Michael F. Flynn
16. Brown Dust by Esther M. Friesner
17. A Life on Mars by G. David Nordley
18. The Picture Business by Walter Jon Williams
19. The Flying Dutchman by John Varley
20. The Rainmaker by Mary Rosenblum
21. The Eye of God by Mary Rosenblum
22. The Allies by Mark S. Geston
23. The Gardens of Saturn by Paul J. McAuley
24. Down in the Dark by William Barton
25. Home Time by Ian R. MacLeod
26. Getting to Know You by David Marusek
27. The Mercy Gate by Mark J. McGarry
28. Transit by Stephen Dedman
29. (tie) The GUAC Bug by Charles L. Harness
(tie) Time Gypsy by Ellen Klages

15. Microcosmic Dog by Michael Swanwick
16. Savior by Robert Reed
17. The Stubbornest Broad on Earth by Janet Kagan
18. The Wire Continuum by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter
19. (tie) Out of Space, Out of Time by David Langford
(tie) Radio Praha by Tony Daniel
21. Tiger, Tiger by Severna Park
22. (tie) Options by Hal Clement
(tie) Wrapper by Gene Wolfe
24. While You Wait by Kathy Oltion

9. An Ornament to His Profession by Charles L. Harness
10. Traces by Stephen Baxter
11. One Day Closer to Death by Bradley Denton
12. Black Glass by Karen Joy Fowler
13. The Night We Buried Road Dog by Jack Cady
14. The Invisible Country by Paul J. McAuley
15. A Second Chance at Eden by Peter F. Hamilton
16. Collected Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges
17. The Moon Maid and Other Fantastic Adventures by R. Garcia y Robertson
18. Lost Pages by Paul Di Filippo
19. Are You Loathsome Tonight? by Poppy Z. Brite
20. Frankensteins and Foreign Devils by Walter Jon Williams
21. Extremities by Kathe Koja
22. Black Butterflies: A Flock on the Dark Side by John Shirley

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